U.C. turns San Benito into a living lab
Last year, agriculture brought in roughly $269 million to San
Benito County.
Here, as in areas where agriculture dominates across California,
an office employing scientists and experts in the dynamic industry
quietly dispenses some of the soundest, most up-to-date advice
available.
U.C. turns San Benito into a living lab
Last year, agriculture brought in roughly $269 million to San Benito County.
Here, as in areas where agriculture dominates across California, an office employing scientists and experts in the dynamic industry quietly dispenses some of the soundest, most up-to-date advice available.
The University of California’s presence in San Benito County can be found in an aging office in the Veterans Memorial Building, where the U.C. Cooperative Extension staff operates five days a week.
The Extension has been part of local farming for nearly 90 years, and for the last 31, the go-to guy for fruit and nut crops has been Bill Coates.
The Ag Extension office is easy to miss. With a staff of just four, and two crop specialists who spend much of their time conducting research, it can be a quiet place. Coates does the majority of his business over the phone, so it’s rare that he has visitors come to his office. Nevertheless housed in his corner of the office is the largest library on fruits and nuts outside of a University of California library.
Coates is a laid back scientist. It is apparent that he enjoys his work from the unassuming smile he wears frequently. He is at home in a short-sleeve sports shirt, rather than a lab coat. Coates has lived in San Benito County for more than 30 years. He is the married father of three, who lives in a home surrounded by – what else? – fruit trees.
Depending on the season Coates spends his days talking to farmers or fielding calls from growers who want to know everything from “What should I do to protect against the freeze,” to “How do I get rid of gophers?”
“No two days are exactly alike,” Coates said. “There are often lots of interesting questions, but since I have access to the UC resources I can usually find the answers to any question pretty easily.”
Though the Extension covers Santa Clara, Monterey and Santa Cruz counties in addition to San Benito, it is located here because at one time San Benito County was the No. 1 tree-crop area on the Central Coast.
Coates’ farm adviser counterpart, Sergio Garcia, works with cattle and does a lot of work with oak preservation and rangeland grasses, as well as invasive weeds.
“I work with everything from large and small commercial farms to organic growers,” Coates said. “I also work with select farmers all the way up into Cupertino, Mountain View and Sunnyvale, where they have historical orchards they’ve kept in the middle of these towns for historical purposes.”
In addition to fielding phone calls, Coates holds meetings with growers to educate them about diseases and problems that occur in the area. As an employee of the University of California, Coates is also responsible for researching 10-15 projects per year. A lot of his recent projects have been related to pest management.
One of his recent projects in San Benito County dealt with reducing the threat of the coddling moth to walnut crops. Another research project also dealing with walnuts has been aimed at reducing the threat of the walnut huskfly. Coddling moth attacks a wide variety of crops, laying eggs that produce larvae that tunnel through developing fruit and nuts. Husk flies sting the outer skin of walnuts, creating misshapen or stunted crops. The research may have far-reaching impacts. There are 1,915 acres of walnuts in San Benito County alone, according to the latest county Crop Report.
Coates also routinely does cost studies for this area so that when people are looking to fill a small five-acre parcel with a grove of fruit trees he has estimates to give them pertaining to what they might expect to spend and make.
Additionally, if a person wanted to grow a crop new to the area – olives are a recent arrival – Coates can inform them with the most up-to-date information.
Every month Coates publishes a newsletter filled with information pertaining to the diseases that his farmers deal with and methods for improving growth and yield.
During the spring and summer months more of his time is spent out in the field doing research and helping farmers improve their crops. Starting in the late fall and into the winter he gives more lectures and meetings with the farmers and researches and publishes papers.
But the pool of Ag Extension scientists that the University of California employs is dwindling. There are fewer people going into farm advising presently, according to Coates and by the middle of this year he will be the oldest farm adviser in the state.
And as an extension of the University of California, the office’s mission stretches beyond educating growers and into educating kids through the Four-H program.
Patrick O’Donnell can be reached at po*******@pi**********.com.
